Here We Remain
by The Walker Whisper
Summary: Attention: This story takes place shortly after the events of the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead, so if you haven't seen it yet, I advise you not to read this fanfiction since it may contain spoilers.


*SPECIAL NOTE*

As those of you who have seen the mid-season finale of TWD already know, the fight between The Governor's camp and Rick's group was a blood bath; Hershel got a sword to the neck, Rick got beat up by the Governor, Michonne saved Rick and stabbed Phillip/Brian in the chest, and Lily had the honor of putting the final bullet in his head.

In the end, the group has scattered. And much like the end of the farm storyline in the season 2 finale, everybody is off in tiny groups with a question mark over whether they'll meet up again. That said, I've decided dive into this world of happiness, drama, heart break and perfection aka fanfiction and write this story where I intend to explain how/whether the gang will get back together.

This one is going to be a long story, I intend to write at least 6 or 7 chapters, I haven't decided yet. What I know for a certainty is that each chapter will be told from the pespective of 5 different characters:

1. Prologue (Joanna, An OC)

2. Carl

3. Beth

4. Rick

5. Carol

6. Epilogue (Chris, a minor character from the comic books that hasn't been introduced into the TV show yet).

So here's the first chapter! This one is told from the pespective of an original character called Joanna, and it takes place a few hours after the events of the mid-season finale. I hope y'all enjoy it :)

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**Prologue**

"I must keep walking", Joanna whispered as she struggled through the woods, "I have to reach them, it's my only hope", she said as she took another step. The day had dawned hot and muggy; the sky was grey and overcast, hinting that it would soon start raining again.

Joanna had been walking for 9 days when she heard the first shots**. **She had suffered through nights of running from the dead through thickets and dense woods until her feet were numb with fatigue and had bloody cuts from thorns. There were long, hot nights when she had to hide, covered in mud, to keep them from tracking her scent. She kept her strength by eating whatever the woods would offer her; bugs, wasps, ants, crickets, maggots, mushrooms, and fruits. When she was thirsty, she would drink water from the raindrops that had fallen on flowers or leaves after a rainy day. Thankfully, it had rained a lot in the past few days, and for that much Joanna was grateful.

She had been part of a small group of 7 survivors; Chris, Albert and Jerald did the hunt. David and Ben secured the camp and watched for bitters while the others were off hunting. Lea and she were in charge of cooking the meal and taking care of a small vegetable garden. She thought it was unfair to leave the hard work for the women while David and Ben sat around and watched for nothing. It was a selvage and simple way to live, but it had been the closest thing to a normal life Joanna had known since the world went to shit, so she would accept the tasks that would be given her without questions. She would keep her silent and guard her complaints to herself.

Their camp was set next to a small river deep in the woods, a safe-haven where somehow the dead hadn't reached yet… Until 9 days ago, when the walking pieces of rotten flesh found them. They came in the dark of the night, emerging from the woods, coming out of nowhere, led by the sweet smell of leaving flesh. The dead made no noise to announce their coming. They never really realized they were being attacked until they heard the screams of people dying in their tents as they were eaten alive. She didn't understand how the bitters had found them or how no one had seen them coming. They had two men standing watch that night, yet no warning had come from them. She had been sleeping when it all happened. It was madness. She was awakened by the sound of people running and shouting for help, she jumped out of her tent to find the whole camp infested by roamers. With a sudden start of panic she took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. _Panicking only makes you stupid, and stupid gets you killed_, she thought then. _I have to make it to the steam. I'll be safe if I can reach the steam, the bitters hate water_. Chris, the leader of their group, had told them once that in case of an attack, the safest place to run to would be the river, since the dead couldn't walk on water. She had never seen a bitter swim before, so she supposed it was true.

One of them was coming for her by then. She saw a spanner lying next her feet, she grabbed it, buried it deep into the wight's head, pulled it back and looked around, trying to find the way to the river. There was a full moon that night; she could see its huge bright crisp reflection dancing in the waters of the lake, and thanks to that, it wasn't hard to figure out which way to go, so she got to her feet and ran. Two more bitters came for her as she struggle through the camp, she kicked the first one aside and stabbed the other with the spanner, she buried it so deep into the bitter's head that this time she wasn't able to wrench it back so she left it stuck in the creature's head. 5 feet ahead, she saw Jerald get eaten by a dozen bitters. The flesh eating monsters had cut the poor man's belly open and were pulling out his entrails with dripping red hands, and then they started pulling on his limbs, tearing them apart in a selvage gush of red. Jerald gave a long shriek of pain, and then his screams died along with him. Joanna probably saw others get eaten too, but she could never tell. She had been blinded by tears.

She kept running towards the river bank, never looking back. When she finally got there, she jumped into the cold water and swam across the lake until she reached the other side of the steam. And then she was out in the woods, her camp and her people left behind; the people she had lived with for almost a year. She felt a start of remorse for running away and leaving her new family behind. But they were never her family, not really. They were just some people she met up on the road the day she fled Atlanta. Her real family was all dead.

She sat there in the mud watching the camp from afar. _I should shout to someone and tell them to run to the steam_, she thought. _No. That will only attract more bitters, and they're all probably dead by now anyway_. She sat there for 4 more hours, unable to move. She waited until the sun came out. "I should go back to see if someone has survived", she told herself, but that would be madness, she knew. Everyone was dead or fled by now; the herd that had come upon their group was too large. The only thing she would find there would be the bitters, waiting to get her. There was nothing she could do for them, so she gathered what had been left of her strength and vanished into woods. She walked for 3 days in search for a safe place to stay when she heard a great blast coming from east. She could swear the explosion sounded like it had come from the cannon of a tank, but it was nonsense. What would a tank be doing in the middle of the woods? But wherever the blast had come from, it could only mean one thing: _People_. _More survivors_, she thought. _Could it be so? Could there be more people living in these woods_? It had been the first sight of human life she had seen since the day she fled the camp, so she turned east and followed the noises. She walked for almost half an hour, and then she heard another blast. She could hear gunshots too. _Too many gunshots_, she thought. _This can't be good. It sounds like there is a fight going on_. There were more explosions, and more gunshots, the noises lasted non-stop for about ten minutes before they finally died. But it made no matter, by then she already knew which way the sounds were coming from. She kept walking.

One hour later she was there. "A prison", she whispered. "It's a prison". _Or rather, what had been left of a prison_. The place was a ruin. The fences were all destroyed, and the walls inside them in ruins and afire. There had been two watch towers, both had collapsed; there was smoking coming out of them.

Joanna was standing at the top of a small hill; she stood there for a while, watching the ruins below as a mass of black smoke drifted up lazily into the overcast sky. _I was right, these people were fighting. They were fighting for this place,_ she realized, startle.

Finally, she started down the hill, descending it slowly, wonder why she was doing that. There is nothing left for me here, she thought, this place is dead. She reached the ground and stood there for a long moment, afraid. Then she finally took courage and started walking towards the ruins that had been a prison. About 50 yards ahead, a hundred bitters roamed through the prison gates, the yard was red with blood where a few wights feasted on the corpses of those who had fallen in battle. She crossed the field slowly, still wondering what exactly she was doing there. She walked for a few more yards until she glimpsed something moving on the grass, so she approached to pay a closer inspection. It turned out to be a head. _An old man's head._ There was a half-eaten headless corpse beside it. She got a bit closer to the severed head and turned it over with a foot. The head opened its eyelids and stared at her with curious eyes. His features looked strangely peaceful; it was almost like he was smiling at her. He had a white bread and appeared to be 65 or 70. His long white/grey hair was tied back in a little ponytail. He looked like he'd been a decent person. Joanna felt sorry for the old man. When she turned the bitter was on her. She never saw it coming, never heard it…

_This one stinks so badly, _she thought_. _His belly was open and his intestines and entrails were hanging out upon his thighs. The stench of it was sickening_. _The bitter grabbed her arm and tried to bite her, she pulled herself free and tried to run but stumbled on a rock and fell to the ground, the breath going out of her at the sudden impact, her mouth full of dirty and blood, she spit and looked up, and then she saw that the monster was coming for her again. She tried to get up and run but the damned thing grabbed her by a leg and she fell flat on her back again. When she opened her eyes the bitter was on her, pressing fiercely on belly as if to tear it open. She tried helplessly to shove it away and failed. The days she had spent walking through the woods had taken all the strength away from her. She was still struggling to push the bitter away when a pale sharp point sprouted from its forehead, dripping with blood. A sword, she realized, surprised. When she looked up she saw a tall black lady standing over her. The woman pulled the sword free from the wight's head and chopped it off with a single blow. The head went spinning sideways as a rain cold blood spread all over Joanna's face. The headless corpse had fallen on her, so the back lady helped Joanna shove it aside and extended her a hand; Joanna wiped her face and accepted it. "Thank you", Joanna said, finally on her feet. The woman paid her no mind. She was staring at the severed head lying on the grass, studying it with sad eyes. _She knew him, _Joanna assumed. "Did you know him?", she asked, with curiosity. The black woman gave no reply; instead she lifted her sword and shoved into the old man's severed head, putting him out of his misery. "My name is Joanna, thanks for saving me. What's your name?". The woman gave her a cold stare and started digging a hole on the ground with bare hands. When she was done, she buried the old man's head in the new-made grave and sad a silent prayer. _She definitely knew him. _"I'm sorry for your friend", Joanna managed after a long silence. This time the woman looked at her and said "You shouldn't be here. This place is infested with dead bodies; it won't be long until they wake up. It's dangerous here. Go away." The black lady slid her sword in a sheath held across her back, turned around and walked away. Joanna went after her, "Please, you saved my life. Aren't you even gonna tell me your name?", "My name isn't important", the woman replied. "Where are you going? We should be safer if we stay together". "I'm better off on my own." _This woman is cold and lonely. _"Please, let me go with you! I'm a good hunt, we can hunt together. I was a part of a group too, I saw people get killed. I've lost some friend too, I know what it's like. We can stay together and set a new camp. Please, don't go away!". The woman stopped and said, "I saved your life. Isn't that enough?" Joanna hesitated for a moment and said, "Yes, you saved my life, and I'm truly grateful for that. Now let me return the favor". The woman looked confused. "Return the favor? How?", she asked. "Let me go with you and help with whatever you need. We can stay together for a few days and see how it works. And afterwards, if you don't like my company, I'll go away and leave you alone, I promise I will! But please, at least give me a chance to prove you I can be a good partner. Besides, we grow lonely in these woods, it would be nice to have someone to talk to, you know. So what do you think?" The black woman stared at her coldly for long moment, her face as expressionless as a bronze mask. She drew a knife from a holster placed on the left side of her waist and handed it to Joanna, and then she finally said, "Take this, you'll need it", Joanna gasped and took the weapon with both hands. "I'll let you come with me, but I swear if you try anything against me, I said _anything_, for slightest it might seem, I will kill you. So you might wanna think twice before you use that knife." She unsheathed her sword once more and held it up for Joanna's inspection; it was a curved, slender, single-edged blade with a squared guard and a grip long enough to accommodate two hands. It looked sharper than anything Joanna had ever seen before. "Do you see this?", the woman asked, her fingers stroking the blade as if to test its sharpness, "This is no common sword, this is a samurai sword, and it's called a Katana. Isn't she gorgeous? Her name is Kindness, and she's so sharp sometimes I even shave my legs with her". She gave a little smirk, lowered the sword, stepped closer to Joanna and whispered low in her ear, "Do anything suspicious and I will kill you with Kindness". Joanna shivered. The woman stepped back and sheathed the blade, "my name is Michonne, by the way", she said, turning around and walking away. Joanna tucked the knife the woman had given her inside her pants and followed silently.

**To be continued.**

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PS: This chapter is still incomplete, since I haven't had the time to finalize it yet. But don't worry, I'll start working on it soon. I have it all in my head, I just really need a free time to sit down and write it. And as soon as I finish it, I'll start writing the next chapter (told from Carl's pespective) where Rick and Carl will be out on their own, which is gonna be awesome. I have so many ideas!


End file.
